I Will Attract Floating, NDC Votes - Frimpong-Boateng

The first Ghanaian Heart Surgeon, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has indicated that he will contest again in the presidential primary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

He said he represented the unity needed for victory for the NPP, advancement of the development process for the country and a champion for the better future for the youth of Ghana.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, he said the NPP needed a candidate “who would not be exposed to the risk of being unduly attacked by political opponents, especially the National Democratic Congress (NDC)” who were not ready to treat the NPP with kid gloves.

He said as imperfect as all humans were, it was incumbent on the party to select a personality who would be less susceptible to the unwarranted attacks from political opponents.

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng who contested the party’s primaries in 2007 said he was a unifier, had the capability to attract more floating voters and some ardent supporters of the NDC to enable the NPP to secure a resounding victory in the 2012 general election.

Asked about what qualities he believed an NPP presidential candidate and the next President of Ghana should possess, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said the current situation and problems facing the country did not require strong men.

“What Ghana needs is a focused, objective, knowledgeable, incorruptible, morally upright, credible person who is capable of galvanising the people into action and committed to securing the future of the country,” he explained.

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng who owns the first ostrich farm in the country, a jetropha farm that produces bio-fuel on experimental scale and a computer controlled machine company that cuts machine parts with precision, said the country needed leaders who would understand the complex political, economic and technical issues of the world and knew what it took to move Ghana from “third world squalor to first world affluence”.

The former Chief Executive of the Korle Bu Teachining Hospital, who is also credited with the setting up of the Cardiothoracic Centre, the maiden cardiothoracic centre in West Africa, had been able to shepherd it to become a centre of excellence accredited by the West Africa Collge of Surgeans to train heart surgeons in West Africa.

Describing himself as champion of youth empowerment and development, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng urged the youth to prepare themselves adequately for the future and not to copy blindly the bad deeds of some elderly persons.

He said they should not allow themselves to be used as tools of destruction by any self seeking politicians to cause harm to people and properly but to emulate leaders at various levels who have distinguished themselves in their service to Ghana.

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, expressed worry about the deteriorating levels of education, especially tertiary education, and said if elected president, particular attention would be paid to the issue since education was the key to national development.

He stressed the need for unity within the party, adding that it was only when the members of the party put their act together and unite that they could convince Ghanaians that indeed, “we are ready to take over the management of this nation again.

Ghana needs a complete overhaul”.